


New Growth, New Life

by Birdy_101



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (and his child), Emotional Zuko, Gen, Lots of Angst, Mentions of Death, Mpreg, Stubborn Katara (Avatar), blood tw, graphic birth, mildly AU, protect this child, sweet zuko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2019-09-26 20:51:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17148890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Birdy_101/pseuds/Birdy_101
Summary: “Zuko…” Katara whispered “What’s going on? You vanished and now you're back like, like this.” She shifted uncomfortably. “Zuko.”It was odd to hear my own name, let alone someone saying it so gently.“You’re not actually, you aren’t…”“Pregnant?”





	1. Chapter One

I ran, tumbling through branches who grabbed at my clothes, pulling me back and tearing at my clothes. The trees leered down at me, leaves blocking out the moon. My toes caught on a branch, tearing my shoe. I dropped like a stone, crashing to the dark ground. Scrambling up I gasped for air. Before I could even get to my knees there was a blade at my neck. 

“Got you,” the water tribe boy grinned, shoulders heaving. Dirt caked his knees and elbows. His blue eyes glistened with cruel glee. 

I lifted a hand, unable to even summon a few sparks. The flames flickered and died. 

“And you can’t bend?” The edge of the boomerang cut deeper, drawing a line of blood. “Even better.”

“Let me go,” I stayed very still. 

“Yeah,” he lifted the boomerang, raising my face. “Not likely.” 

He spun me around, ropes digging into my wrists. 

“You’re making a mistake,” I still couldn’t breathe, air coming only shallowly into my lungs. 

He snorted. “Yeah. I doubt that. Come on. I’m sure the earth king will be only too happy to see the prince of the fire nation.”

“You’re going to Ba Sing Se?”

“Don’t ask questions,” he tugged at my arm. “Get up!”

Struggling to my feet I tottered, nearly toppling over. 

“Hold still,” the boy tied my arms tighter. 

Biting back a retort I made myself walk in the direction I was pushed. My steps were uneven, my broken shoe dragging in the mud. 

We said nothing, walking in the black darkness. A cramping pain built up my spine. Still, I said nothing. 

“Where have you been Zuko?” Sokka spoke finally. “We haven’t seen you since-”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to ask questions.” I snapped. 

He sobered instantly. “Right.” He rustled with something in his pocket before something pulled at my hair, tying around my face, knotting in my hair. I choked against the gag that had been half-forced down my throat. 

I was half dragged across the forest to a small clearing. There the water tribe girl stood with a rickety handcart and  _ my _ ostrich horse. 

“Sokka. What are you doing?”

“I caught the great Prince Zuko!” he dropped my rope, pushing me to my knees. I didn’t bother trying to get back up. I don’t think I could if I tried. 

Running and then having to trudge my way across the forest had taken my energy. 

“Who cares if we have him as our prisoner?”

A low cramp began at my spine. I moved my head, lips pressed tightly. 

“I do!”

“Where will we keep him? Our loft in Ba Sing Se isn’t-” 

“Katara!” 

“It’s not like he won’t find out!” She snapped at him. “So really Sokka. What are we doing?”

“We’re going to go back to Aang and Toph and talk with them. Then we’ll take him to the earth king.”

“The earth king?”

“We’ll talk about this later. Not in front of the prisoner!”

“Sokka. He can’t hear. He looks like he’s… dying.”

And for the next while I was sure I had. 

Pain rippled across my body. It set me on fire, burning into every bone. Had a gag not been shoved in my mouth I was sure I would have screamed. 

Curled on the ground I forced myself tighter. 

“Whatever,” Sokka tugged at the ropes around my wrists. “Get up!” 

I couldn’t move.

“Get up!”

“Sokka. Don’t-”

“Just get the ostrich horse tied to the cart.”

She snarled but moved to do as she had been told. 

Struggling I followed the order. I was pushed forward, head still pointed down, body still screaming until I reached the cart. I sat, letting myself be positioned. I sat quietly 

Hard wood pressed into my back. The tug of rope bit into every limb. It had been tied around my thighs and ankles, twisting like a snake. My wrists were suspended above my head, the rope swelling my fingers, stopping the blood flow. 

Groaning through my stuffed gag I tried to squeeze myself tighter, pull my knees to my chest. 

Two things stopped me in my tracks. The first thing was the full melon sized growth of my stomach. My thin limbs could hardly support me, wiry legs and oversized clothes barely hiding it. 

The second thing, the one that truly stopped me in my tracks was the acute feeling that I was being stared at. 

Lifting my bleary gaze I found myself staring into an intense pair of blue eyes. The water tribe girl watched me from the back of my ostrich horse. 

I didn’t dare look at her for more than a moment. 

It only took a second for the cramping to return. Trying to distract myself I stared up at the small carriage to which I’d been confined. It wasn’t a proper carriage. It really was a kart with a homemade top secured with loose screws and nails. The corner where ‘i had been hung was not nearly large enough for me, contorting my spine, nails scratching skin through the thin fabric. Still, I endured. 

Around me, the sun shone green through the trees. Closing my eyes I tried to soak in whatever light I could. 

Despite the throbbing pains I managed to doze. 

 

_ Even in sleep, I could feel the eyes on me. Voices came to me through distant tunnels of thought, only just clear enough to discern. The tones weren’t just those of my captors. _

_ “Why have you done this to the boy? He is hardly more than an infant himself.” _

_ “It is necessary,” there was a soft woman’s voice.  It was gentle, loving though I couldn’t understand why the tone drew me in.  _

_ “You’ve seen the predictions. He would have made the right choices,” the first voice rose, fury touching every word.  _

_ “The child he bears will do more for his kingdom than any other. They will put in a place for generations-” _

_ “You don’t get to chose that.” The first spoke with a dark finality.  _

_ My body erupted into pain. Fire burst from inside searing away my insides.  _

 

I woke from my dream in a blind panic. Caught off guard, pain still burning into me I sat as straight as my bindings would allow. Only my scream sounded through the gag.

“Sokka stop!” the girl’s voice registered as if from another world. 

Tears burned at my eyes, dripping slowly down my cheeks. 

“He’s faking.”

The pain broke as suddenly as it had come. Sagging back my breaths came in ragged sobs. 

“Look at him!” 

I wished they’d shut up. I needed time. I had to figure out what had happened, where I was.

Emotions tangled with the physical, confusing. And above it all one thing towered above it all; an all-encompassing sense of loss. 

Why couldn’t I stop crying?

“Sokka. Stop.”

“Katara, we’re not stopping.” The water tribe boy snapped at her. “He’s faking it, trying to get us to stop. It’s Zuko. He always has some evil plot.”

“He looks like he’s dying,” her voice was smaller, horror etched into every syllable.

I didn’t hear his response. 

The pain rained over me like thunder, that odd feeling of loss still eating at me. I tensed, ready for it now. 

The cramp began in my lower stomach spreading out until it numbed my legs. It spun my head with the intensity of it all. 

Reaching a decline in the road the ostrich horse picked up speed to keep ahead of the cart. The rapidly spinning wheels collided with a rock, jolting me forward. I crashed into the side, nearly toppling out. 

I jerked, trying to get off my swollen stomach where I’d landed. Even Katara’s intense glare wasn’t enough to startle me to stillness. 

“Come on,” I mumbled through the gag, “come on. Turn over.”

Her gaze returned to me, the alarm like a physical presence. 

“Sokka! Stop the cart now!”

Finally, the terror in his sister’s voice was enough to give him pause. 

“What? What is it? Are you okay?”

I heard her slide off the beast, coming around the back end of the cart. 

“Oh him.” 

She turned me over, her hands gentle. I didn't even bother trying to open my eyes. 

“Zuko?”

I didn’t answer, breathing slow and ragged. 

“Leave him,” Sokka complained. “I told you he’s faking it.”

“Faking that?”

I squinted through my eyelashes, trying to find what she was pointed to. My heart sank to my toes. 

Blossoming between my thighs like a perverse flower was a pool of blood. I struggled, panic shutting out all logic. 


	2. Chapter Two

Blossoming between my thighs like a perverse flower was a pool of blood. I struggled, panic shutting out all logic. 

The ropes dug into my skin, ripping the thin clothes. Desperately, fruitlessly I tried to pull apart my bound thighs. My arms, still above my head, blocked my peripheral. 

“Zuko stop moving,” Katara put a hand on my arm. 

Teeth grit on the rag in my mouth I stared up at her. This couldn’t be happening. I’d fought too hard to get here. I was not going to lose them now, not after everything. 

“Zuko,” Katara pulled my attention, holding to my chin. “Zuko I need to know what’s going on. I’m going to take the gag out.”

The boy released a small hiss of protest. She ignored it, pulling out the foul tasting rag. 

“What’s happening? Where are you hurt?”

I opened my mouth to answer, the small keening cry the only thing I could manage. 

She stood. 

“Sokka. Look after him. I’m getting water. I saw a river on the way down the hill.”

She vanished from sight. 

The water tribe boy came into sight, face full of disdain. “You know she doesn’t really care right? She might be falling for your little helpless act. But I’m not.”

“I don’t care what you think,” I rasped. 

The pain began again, sharp as a sword stroke. Dropping my head back my sob mixing with a low groan. 

I heard the cart creak as he sat. “You can drop the act. Katara can’t hear you.”

Trying again to pull at the roped around me I tried to move, trying desperately to move. 

“Untie my legs,” I begged. 

He stiffened. “Not a chance.”

The rolling cramp returned. My shoulders shook. As the pain hit it’s peak every muscle pushed my blood-soaked thighs apart. It took everything in me to suppress my wild scream, tears squeezed from my eyes. “Please,” I begged. “Just my legs. You can keep my arms tied. Strap my ankles down if you have to. Just, please.”

My please seemed to throw him off the most. 

Staring at him through blurred eyes, watching him left his weapon. Flinching back I only felt the after effects. The thin rope fell away. 

The next groan was only of relief as I spread my knees apart, sinking down. The pressure lessened by a fraction. I rode out the rest of the cramping pain with a low whine. 

I hardly noticed as the oy used the rope to lash my ankles to the sides of the cart

“Thank you,” I whispered. 

Sokka still had his arms crossed firmly over his chest. “I still don’t believe your whole innocence act.”

“And how do you imagine I’m faking all this blood?” I asked, doing my best to hide my rising terror. 

“I don’t know, maybe berries or paint or.. or I don’t know!”

Shifting again I inclined my head. “Check it yourself if you want.”

“I’m not touching your nasty blood.”

I shook my head, done arguing. If he didn’t want to see what was right in front of him that was his choice. 

“What do you claim i wrong with you anyway?”

“If you can’t even accept the fact I’m bleeding there’s no way you’d accept the whole story.”

“Whole story?”

I readied myself for his reaction, no matter how extreme. Opening my mouth I began. 

“I’m back,” Katara walked back into view with a skin of full water. 

My torn throat throbbed for it. Deep inside me, settled between my ribs the tiny creature wriggled, seeming to agree. The sharp kick rippled across my stomach, the tiny foot pressed into the thin layer of skin. 

Sokka scrambled back, dropping to the floor. “What was that?” He squealed. 

Instinctively I reached to cover my middle, ropes burning at my wrist. “Don’t touch me,” I gasped. 

“Zuko,” Katara moved closer. “I don’t know if I’m seeing things but I… you’re not…” she couldn’t seem to find the words. 

“I already told your brother,” I sagged back, letting myself try and relax again. “Neither of you would believe me if I told you.”

She let it drop. They’d believe me soon enough. All pregnancies come to an end, even this anomaly of one. 

Sokka shook himself back to reality, standing straight. “Katara we need to keep going.”

“Why? It’ll be night soon,” Katara stood, continuing to glance back at me. 

“And give his crew time to catch up with us?”

“What crew?” I asked weakly. 

His gaze fell on me, lips pursed. “You’re a prince. Last time I checked you have a whole ship of soldiers.”

“Check again,” I tried to match the ferocity. “I’ve been on my own for months.”

“Oh yeah? And how can we believe you?”

The weight of my own exhaustion seemed to add ten pounds to me. “Does it look like I’ve had servants let alone a bed?” My voice cracked. 

With mutinous muttering, Sokka returned to the ostrich horse. 

“We really should be stopping for the night though,” Katara whispered back to him. “I know you’re tired. I am too. And the ostrich horse can’t keep going forever.”

“I know,” his voice was gentler with his sister. “You said there was a river?”

“Yeah,” Katara hopped up, taking the reins. “It goes down into this lagoon. We can stop there for the night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of the feedback! 
> 
> Sorry this chapter isn't as long as I'd like it to be. They will get longer.


	3. Chapter Three

Even through my exhaustion, I could feel my dehydration. I needed the water, I needed the energy. I could feel myself slipping into unconsciousness before I really knew I was tired. 

When I woke everything around me had turned to gold, embers of sunlight slowly going out. The sights and sounds were too gentle for the battle raging inside me. 

Blearily I looked down at myself. The blood had dried on my legs, the fabric plastered to my skin, turning black in the weak light. 

“Do you want dinner?”

Katara’s voice was nearby. Until the soft words, I hadn’t been listening. 

“Zuko?”

Opening my eyes slowly I found her just in front of me, gently lit in the pale moonlight. Her cascading brown hair curled around a well-worn water tribe uniform. Deep blue and white worn to sky blues matched her eyes well. She looked almost like a spirit. 

I didn't want to look.

“Are you hungry?” She asked.

“Mostly thirsty,” I straightened as best I could, the ropes tearing into weak skin. 

“Of course you are,” she crawled into the cart on her hands and knees, holding out the skin. 

I shook my head, cheeks hitting my bound arms. “I- I can’t.”

“Right, of course,” she lifted the bottle to my lips. I half expected her to bend it to me. I was grateful she hadn’t. 

Greedily I gulped down the water. I must have had half the skin before she pulled it away. 

Panting for air I leaned forward, needing more. 

“Zuko…” Katara stared at me instantly. “What’s going on? You vanished months ago. And now you’ve come back like, like this.” She shifted uncomfortably. “Zuko.”

It was odd to hear my own name, let alone someone saying it so gently. 

“You’re not actually, you aren’t…”

“Pregnant?” 

It was even more odd to finally be saying it out loud. Never had I dared speak the words, not that I would have had anyone to say it too.

“But how?” Her voice shook. “You’re a boy.”

Opening my mouth to answer I was interrupted by a wild shout. 

Sokka dropped the armful of firewood, grabbing his sister. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Look at him Sokka. Does he look like a killer to you?”

“Yes!” He gestured to me emphatically. “He is from the fire nation! He is the enemy!”

“And what about the child he’s carrying.”

Sokka blinked, trying to catch up. “What are you talking about? He’s not ‘carrying’ anything.”

Still, he eyes me, looking me over with the eyes of a soldier. They rested, moved on, then doubled back to my swollen middle. “You’re kidding? Right?”

I didn’t dare answer him, watching his hand twitch to his weapon. 

“Of course not,” Katara stood between us, a physical wall of protection. “Sokka.”

He glared ferociously between the pair of us. For a flicker of a moment, it seemed he might actually believe. Then his eyes hardened to steel. “Yeah. Right. Let’s start on dinner.”

It wasn’t hard to understand his emotions. Hate was like that, it was soul deep, etched right onto the bone. That kind of hate couldn’t be talked away. It spread to others like a sickness. Soon enough he’d remind his sister of the hate for, the fire nation, for me. Her compassion could only spread so far. They had been a threat to everyone for a hundred years. 

I shifted again, feeling the child, my child moving ever downward. There was a small series of kicks. Unable to comfort with more than words I tried to soothe. 

“It’s okay,” I whispered. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I’d run from my own nation. 

They’d taken my mother away from me, separated a child from their parent. I wouldn’t let them do that again. 

Bending myself in half best I could I tried to tune out the pain, only letting myself feel the innocent motions of my unborn child. 

No one would touch them, no one would hurt them. 

I understood the anger.

 

* * *

 

 

I let myself fade in and out of reality, never really managing to fall asleep. The pain was worsening. Teeth grit I kept all noise to a minimum. 

As evening shifted to night the smell of boiling vegetables wafted over to me. My empty stomach screamed for food, the grumbling roll betraying my vow of silence. 

Head tilted toward the sky a whimper threatened to break through. The warm hand on my shoulder caused the ropes to sink deeper into my skin. 

“Relax,” Katara sat down next to me. 

Her expression was deceptively neutral. 

I had no way of knowing if her brother’s hate had infected her. 

Then I saw the bowl in her hand. “I thought you might be hungry.”

“Your brother-”

“Is asleep. I made sure. You need food.” She offered it to me. 

“My hands.”

“Right,” she lifted a small whip of water. Flinching away I pressed my eyes tight, only to feel my suspended limbs drop. 

My moan of pain was involuntary as I cradled my bleeding, numb arms. 

“You’re hurt,” the water floated above her hands. “Let me-”

“No,” I shifted back, ankles still loosely tied to the sides of the cart. I winced as my foot knocked over the bowl of soup. 

“I’m just trying to help.”

“Help like that will get me killed.”

She paused. “Do you really think Sokka would…”

Another all consuming camp rolled over me. “I can’t take that chance.” I grit my teeth, gripping my stomach. 

“Zuko. What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t answer, too lost in the ever growing pain. 

“Zuko,” her voice dropped an octave. “You’re not in- are in you in labor?”

“I-”

“Katara?” Sokka’s voice mumbled sleepily. 

Katara hissed something under her breath and vanished from sight. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the feedback. Sorry, this chapter took so long.
> 
> Reviews make chapters come faster :)


	4. Chapter Four

“Katara?” Sokka’s voice mumbled sleepily. 

Katara hissed something under her breath and vanished from sight. 

Wearing nothing but a pair of white shorts I assumed were underclothes Sokka came into the dim silver light of the moon. 

“What-” his eyes landed on my unbound hands. “How did you get out?”

“I-”

He jumped into the cart, cutting off any escape route. “What did you do to my sister?”

“I didn’t do anything,” I crossed my arms over my middle, a weak attempt to protect. 

“What did you do? Where is Katara!?” He stood above me, fists balled, ready to attack.

I pulled myself into a tight ball, only trying to hide them from the incoming. 

“So help me. If you don’t tell me-”

His words stopped dead, his face fell flat. Sokka slumped over me, limp body dropping like a stone. 

“What-” I tried to push him off. 

“Zuko?” Katara’s hands pulled her brother off, a large stick on the ground behind her. 

She offered her hand to me. 

“What did you do?”

“I knew he wasn’t going to leave you alone. I hoped he’d just sleep through it but,” she shrugged. I didn’t take her extended hand, sliding the edge of the cart. 

She didn’t argue at first. Taking the last frayed bits of rope she strapped her brother to a tree. 

On my feet again I stretched, rubbing away whatever knots I could reach. The bruising from my mode of travel had set in, most of my body now purple and blue. Rubbing my wrist across my clothes I hissed. 

“Let me help,” Katara insisted. 

“No,” I stepped back. “I can do this myself,” my voice trailed off to a whimper, leaving me crouched, bent in half. 

“You bleeding can’t be good for you or the baby.” She spoke firmly. “And you still haven’t eaten. Soup and healing. Then everything else.”

I listened to her words, as if from a dream. As the pain slowly came to an end I managed to nod. I couldn’t fight her anymore. I had to let her have at least this small victory. 

I walked, or more accurately waddled, after her, following her to a smoldering fire. 

“Any chance of rekindling?” Katara knelt next to it, placing a lukewarm pot atop it. 

Ashamed, I shook my head. “I can’t.”  


"What?"  


"I can't bend."

“Why not?”

“I haven't really been able to for a while.”

“Really?” She carefully relit the campfire. “How long? Do you know what caused it?”

Resting a hand over my navel I turned away on instinct. 

“Really?” she asked again. Sitting back on her haunches she tilted her head. “I’ve never heard of a moth- parent being unable to bend while pregnant.”

“Well I’m not exactly a normal ‘mother’ am I?”

Her face turned red in the dim fire. 

She poked the embers back to life, the soup wafting slow waves over us. Dipping another bowl into the liquid she offered it to me. 

I practically burnt my mouth swallowing mouthful after mouthful. I licked the side clean, sides heaving. Downing the last of the dregs I lowered the bowl, a new cramp building. Knuckles white I bent over. 

“Zuko?” Katara had her hand on my arm, gripping tightly. “Is it a contraction?”

I nodded once. 

She took the bowl, setting on the dirt, replacing the faux warmth with her own hand. “Zuko you have to breathe.”

The pain came to an end and I gasped for air, suppressing the urge to sob. 

“Zuko,” Katara moved her hands to my shoulders. “You’re going to pass out if you don’t let yourself breathe.”

“It hurts,” I defended weakly. 

“You still have to breathe.”

Opening my mouth to build another defense I stopped. Looking down to my legs I began to tremble. Joining the pad of dried blood was something new. Colorless and odorless it drenched the space between my legs. 

“Katara…”

“I see it,” she stood, holding out a hand to me. “Come on.”

I didn’t have the pride to refuse, terror sweeping over every inch of me.

“Zuko,” she crouched down. “Come on.”

“I’m coming,” I pushed myself up, ignoring her offered hand. 

I followed her into the woods, our path lit only by the moon. Keeping my still dripping thighs pressed together I did my best to keep pace. 

“Where are we going?”

“The lagoon,” she wound her way through the trees. “You can wash off and I’ll be able to heal your rope burns.”

“I told you it’s fine,” I bit back. 

She spun on her heal, facing me with hands on hips. “You need help whether you like it or not. So I will help.”

“Why?” I demanded. “Why would you want to help? Your brother said it himself. I’m the enemy. I’m fire nation.”

“I don’t care about you,” she spat. 

There was an odd squeezing in my chest. “Then why?”

“It’s not for you. It’s for your kid. You have little to no experience with birth, let alone children. At best you might have read a book or two.” She took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. “This isn’t for you.”

“Good,” I steeled myself. “We’re on the same page then.”

“What do you mean?”

“If anything goes wrong you save them. If it’s a choice between me or the baby you save them.” It wasn’t a question. It was a request. It was an order. She met my gaze, a startling shade of blue. 

She nodded once. “Okay.”

We made our way to the lagoon in silence. 

The water was calm, not quite stagnant as a small stream flowed in.

“If you want to strip I won’t look.”

“No point,” I walked into the cool water with a soft sigh. The burning in my skin faded a fraction. I walked along the outer edge, sitting down on a small rock under the surface, a natural rock made of stone. The water came up over the crest of my stomach. 

“Better?” Katara kelt behind me. 

Dried blood faded the water a pale pink. 

I nodded, “a little.”

“Will you let me heal you now?” she asked, doing little to hide her impatience. 

“You can’t do too much. If you heal too much you’ll ruin the birth canal my body made. That’s why there was blood.” I spoke slowly, letting the words escape without thought. 

“I’ll only touch your wrists.”

“Fine,” I held them out. “If it will stop you pestering me.” 

I had to stop a whimper as relief washed over me, healing the burns. 

Katara took my hand gently in hers. “This is… this is… awful. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You know why,” I fought the temptation to pull back. 

She didn’t raise any more complaints. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for all your support and I am so sorry it took so long. 
> 
> Reviews make chapters come faster. :)


	5. Chapter Five

The relief in my arms took a back seat as another cramp began. Back arching I released a strangled scream. This was worse, so much worse. 

“Zuko?”

Tears made new tracks down my cheeks. “It’s worse,” I sobbed. “It’s gotten worse.”

“It’s because your water broke. There’s nothing left to-” she stopped, interrupted by another low moan. 

I hadn’t realized I was still clinging to her hand until the pain wound down. 

I pulled away, moving to get out of the water. 

“Where are you going?”

“I have to move, I can’t just sit here and take this,”

“Can I do anything?”

“I doubt it.”

She stayed sitting. “Would you mind talking?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “Might take my mind off things.”

Standing she walked beside me as I made a slow half circle back and forth around the lagoon. 

“Can I ask you about the, the baby?” Katara spoke hesitantly. 

My silence seemed all the invitation she needed. “How did it happen?” She launched into her interrogation. “It couldn’t have happened  the normal way.”

I didn't want to tell her, she ha no tight. Yet I found myself opening my mouth to speak. 

“It was just after the north pole,” I began. “I’d found my way down to northern earth kingdom.”

“With your uncle?”

I shook my head. “For all I know he assumes I died during the battle.”

“That’s horrible.”

I didn't answer that one. It was what he had to believe. 

“So what happened?” She let the topic drop.

“I thought it was a dream,” I crossed my arms. “I was in this field. Then, out of nowhere, she was there. 

“She?”

Nodding I opened my mouth to continue, stopping, eyes pressed tight. 

Katara put a hand on my arm. “Zuko. You have to breathe through the contractions.”

Air escaped my lungs in a gush. I panted, chest rising and falling with the rapid thrum of my heart. 

Katara held onto me, ready to support more if needed. 

I only managed not to whimper as the hands gripping my insides lightened.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I breathed. 

We walked in silence for a short while. She didn’t press. My voice returned, raspy and soft. 

“The woman in the field was beautiful, inhumanly beautiful. I knew what she was the second  I laid eyes on her. 

“What?” Katara tilted her head. She reminded me uncannily of a child being told a bedtime story. 

“A spirit,” I said. “She told me she was the spirit of life, of family. She stood very close. I think she held me.” I could feel my face burning. She had done a lot more. “Then she promised to help me whenever I needed her.” I paused, just the memory of that afternoon stealing my breath away. “Then I woke up miles away, just outside some house in the middle of the earth kingdom.”

“Why there?”

“Don’t know,” I lied. 

Of course, I knew. I had looked in the window. I had seen my uncle, happily eating dinner with the two women. 

A young woman about my age held up a plate of roast duck. I hadn’t watched much after that. I also chose not to tell Katara that was where I had taken the ostrich horse from. 

My fingers absently massaged the underside of my stomach. 

“Zuko,” Katara spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully. “She told you she would help you… so why are you here?”

“I,” I swallowed hard, that same unbearable grief welling up in me. “I think she died.”

This time it was Katara who paused. “What do you mean?”

“Before. When I was in the cart,” my words came faster as the realizations set in. “I felt it. Someone was saying,” I told her everything I remembered. “Then I felt loss.” I dropped my arms. “Just this awful grief.”

“I’m sorry.” Katara squeezed my arm. 

“Don’t,” this time I pulled away. “You said yourself you don’t care.”

“Zuko.”

“Besides,” I pressed on, fury building. “My emotional state doesn’t affect the baby does it?”

I wouldn’t have noticed it. Had I not been looking directly into Katara’s face, not seen the horror register I wouldn’t have realized. But I did. I felt the flash of fire. 

Katara took one step back, a water whip, raised to strike. “You said you couldn’t bend.”

Smoke rose from my frozen body, vanishing into the thin night air. “I can’t.”

The low dig of cramps moved up my spine. 

“I haven’t been able to since the north pole.” 

She lowered her weapon. “It has to have been the baby. Right? Now that you’re in labor.”

I tensed as the next contraction began. “Will it hurt them?”

“What”

“Will my flames hurt them?”

She hesitated, shaking her head. 

“Will it hurt them!?”

My knees shook, pain clouding my senses. 

“I don’t know. Your situation is unique. I can’t be sure of anything.”

“Will the water help?”

Katara put my arm over her shoulder. “It can’t hurt.”

She half dragged me to the edge of the lagoon. “Come on Zuko,” Katara pulled me further, up to my knees in water. 

I broke, pressing my full weight against her. I didn’t care that she was water tribe. I didn’t care that we were supposed to be enemies, clinging to her arm I choked out a pained sob. 

“Come on,” Katara coaxed. “It’s only a little further.”

I couldn’t make any noise, clinging to her, walking beside her. She lowered me slowly to the water. I sat with a low groan, watching the flames douse themselves in the cool water. Dropping my head back into the grass I forced myself to breathe slowly. 

“Zuko?”

“It’s getting worse,” I breathed. 

“I think you might be approaching transition,” she sat in the grass behind me. Shifting her skirt to the side she placed her feet in the water. 

“Anything to do for it?” 

“Unfortunately no” she said. “You just have to ride it out.”

“Great,” I whimpered. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for all the support. I know this chapter is crazy short because another one of my stories kind of blew up and all my attention has been really focused on that one.
> 
> Reviews are always so appreciated.


	6. Chapter Six

We sat in silence for what might as well have been an eternity. The contractions blended together. Leaving me shaking, groaning in pain. 

Eyes to the sky I watched wispy clouds starting to block out the moon. 

“I’ll need to start a fire soon,” Katara lifted her feet from the water. 

“You don’t have to,” I mumbled. 

“We need to be able to see when the baby comes.”

“With flowers like those?” I pointed out at the pond lilies in the lake.

“What are you talking about?”

“Just wait,”

I didn’t bother watching. I knew what would happen. Once the light from the moon had gone the pale lilies opened the petals glowing like suns. Their roots followed suit, shining all the way to the bottom. 

“Whoa…” Katara leaned forward. “How did you know?”

“I stayed by a pond that had the same thing.” I shifted, the light rippling off the shifting pond. “It made fishing a lot easier.”

“Must have.”

I dug my fingers into the mud behind me. 

“Zuko?” Katara was in the water next to me. Her alarm was infectious. “Zuko you’re bleeding again.”

“I know.”

I could feel the fire coursing through me, the ripping across skin. 

My breaths came in sharp gasps. “When I first found out I managed to talk to the spirit. I asked how I was supposed to even have the baby,” my smile was weak “She said that life finds a way.”

Katara gripped my hand. 

“But you can’t have one without giving one.”

“That sounds like-”

“Like I’m going to die,” I finished. It wasn’t a question. I’d accepted it too long ago. 

“But, no,” Katara was shaking her head. “You can’t. You have to be here for your baby.”

Pushing through the lump in my throat I spoke. 

“I’ll be lucky if I even got to meet them,” I tensed again, each muscle turning to stone. 

“Don’t talk like that,” Katara said quickly. “We don’t know for sure if that’s what it means you’re going to, to- spirits hardly ever make sense. You can’t be sure.”

My scream interrupted everything. A heavy pressure between my legs shut out all thought. I bore down on instinct. 

“Zuko?”

“Have to push,” I groaned. 

She lept to attention instantly. Placing her clothes on the grass she stood before me, hair pulled up out of her face. Leaning down in front of me she unlaced the thing string around my waist. Had I not been lost in a world of pain I might have made a comment. 

Laid bare in the chill water stretched out. The pain broke. Struggling to catch my breath I found myself absently reaching out for Katara. 

“Breathe,” She wrapped her warm hands around my arm. “You’ve got this.”

The next contraction came right on top of the last. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think. I didn’t even recognize the sounds coming out of my mouth. Every inch of my body was so focused on pushing, curling myself into a ball.

Katara’s words of comfort and encouragement went from one ear to the other. I couldn’t hear her. 

Deep within I could feel the wriggling infant as desperate to get out as I was. 

“Zuko stop,” Katara’s hand gripped mine. “If you push like that you’re going to pass out.”

I listened as best I could, my head spinning. 

“Push with your body, not your face.” She held tight to my hand. 

I couldn’t even nod.

With her hand around mine, she felt me tense up. And it began again. 

She spoke words of comfort, her hands shifting from my hands to my thighs, trying to prove I was not alone. 

My screams filled the silent forest air, turning my throat raw. Amidst the worst pains I’d ever felt I crumpled back against the grass. 

“Deep breaths,” Katara spoke softly. 

“I’m trying,” I shifted to my side, laying my head on the grass. 

“I know,” she moved to sit in front of me, taking my hand. “I know you are. It’s only a little longer.”

Opening my blurry eyes I looked out at the dark woods. “I’ve been doing this for so long. I can’t keep doing this.”

“Just a little longer,” Katara was quiet. “You’re really doing well.”

I dropped my head down, nose inches from the water. “Doesn’t feel like it.” 

“Another one?” She shifted, trying to get back to my knees. 

I stopped her. “Pause, for this one, please. I’ll breathe through it. I just need a minute.”

Katara pressed her lips tighter but nodded. 

“Pant through it,” she said. “It’ll help the urge to push.”

Nodding I leaned forward again, my forehead on her shoulder. 

“Zuko,” She spoke softly. “You’re going to have your baby. You’ll see them.”

“I hope so,” I whispered. 

“You’re already giving up hope?”

“No,” I leaned my head back, shoulders shaking as I panted. “No, I gave up hope a long time ago. I want the baby to be okay. That’s all I can want.”

“You’re allowed to hope to see your own kid,” Katara put a hand on my leg.

Whimpering again I pressed my head back to her shoulder. “I can’t. I can’t let myself hope to see them. Because it’ll break me. I can’t deal with… what happens if it doesn’t work, if something goes wrong.”

“I will here to make sure that it doesn’t happen.”

The contraction finally ended and I felt myself sinking further into the water, nodding slowly.

“And whatever happens,” Katara squeezed my hand tightly, “whatever happens I will take care of them.”

“Thank you,” I felt the tears returning. “Thank you, Katara.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for being patient. I have a couple of other stories that are kind of blowing up. I don't know if anyone cares about my less popular ones. Let me know if you still even want updates on this one. If not I'll just abandon it for a while.


	7. Chapter Seven

“Now let’s make sure we get this baby out of you, all safe and sound.”

Swallowing hard I shifted myself slowly back into position. “Yeah.”

“Are you ready?”

“I don’t think I have much choice in the matter.” I smiled limply. “But otherwise yes, I am ready as I’ll ever be.”

The next pain came quickly, drowning out her response. 

Bending over I groaned, pushing down with a strength pulled from nowhere. 

She droned on words of encouragement, struggling to use what little strength I had left I pushed. 

There was a shift. Freezing in place I panted. “What is that? What’s going on?” 

“It’s turned,” Katara stood. “I’m seeing the shoulder.” The pain was mounting. Fire was burning through my blood. 

“What do we do?”

“I,” she looked around frantically. “I need another pair of hands.”

Tears burned at the corners of my eyes. “Then f-find someone,”

She hurled out of the water, splashing me as she ran. “Stay here!”

“Not a problem.” I rasped. 

I laid in the cold water, my feet braced on the edge of the ledge before me. Every instinct told me to push. As hard as it had been to do it, resisting was worse. 

I laid in the water, face to the sky. I could hear my company before it arrived. 

“Katara, what are you doing? Ow!” There were breaking branches, twigs below me. “Katara you knocked me out!”

“Be quiet and help me.”

Squeezing my eyes shut against a new pain I didn’t see the pair arrive. 

“What is Zuko- what- how?” Sokka sputtered. “Is that blood?”

“Shut up and get into the water.”

I couldn’t open my eyes to see them. I could only hear the two bodies splash into the water beside me. 

“Katara, what is that?”

I could feel her hand brush gently across my knee. “Sokka. Hold him down. I have to turn the baby.”

“Turn the what?” he yelled. 

“Just do it!”

Strong arms laced themselves across my chest awkwardly. They weren’t necessary. I was too weak to move. 

I didn’t get a warning. Before I had time to think she sunk the heel in her palm into my stomach. 

The scream was wrenched from me. The pale flickering of flames across my body was hardly visible through my still closed eyes. 

I dropped into the arms that held me so tightly, struggling to keep my head out of the water. My breath came in ragged gasps. 

“Katara?” Sokka spoke loudly, just next to my ear. “Katara what did you do?”

She ignored her brother. 

“Zuko. You’ve got to push now. They’re in the right position.”

I was miles, worlds away from my body. 

“Zuko?”

“I can’t,” I groaned. “I can’t do it.”

From a distance, I felt Sokka’s arms release me, my head back in the mud. 

“Yes you can,” Katara spoke firmly. 

Sokka gripped my arm, a water tribe handshake. “You’ve got this. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you before.”

“I can understand why,” I spoke as loudly as I could manage, hardly above a whisper. 

“I still really don’t know what’s going on, or why it’s happening but you’re not the type to give up. So get your ass in gear.”

My laugh was little more than a cough. 

I felt the pain welling. 

Pushing my legs up again I let my chin drop to my chest, the water lapping up to my mouth. 

“One more big push,” Katara egged me on. “One more.”

With more effort than I thought possible I bore down, the burning pressure mounted, stretching me to the very limit. I was on fire. I could feel every rip, feel myself losing more blood. 

“The head’s out!” Katara cried. 

My shoulders shook, I was falling further into the pond, sinking up to my nose. 

“Sokka,” Katara yelled. “Keep him above the water.”

“He’s heavy,” Sokka’s arms pulled me up, my shoulders dripping. 

“Well he’s having a baby so you get to do one good thing and make sure he doesn't drown,” she snapped. 

“Fine, fine,” Sokka lifted me more, holding tight. 

I lifted my hands from the water, holding to his arm. 

“Almost there Zuko,” Katara squeezed my leg lightly. “Little pushes now. And then you’ll have your baby.”

I nodded once, my torn muscles screaming every shift. 

The pressure vanished in an instant. Sagging in the weight of my relief I didn’t wait for more instruction. 

Casting around I sharpened every sense, pulling them to the forefront. “Where…”

Once above the water, the tiny cries rang through the morning air. It was enough to pull me from my trance. I held out my arms, shaking and trembling, consciousness waning, I needed to see, needed to feel the living soul. 

Katara didn’t hesitate. Placing the warm body in my icy arms I stared down at them. Miniscule fists curled next too chubby cheeks. Skin of pale pink and covered in a pale goo the tiny baby screamed to their heart's content. 

“Congratulations,” Katara smiled. “You have a perfect little son.”

I pressed a kiss to his forehead. I wanted to sit there forever, clinging to him, needing to know he was safe and healthy. With a move, I regretted more than anything else I held him out to Katara.

“Zuko. What’s going on?”

“Take him. Please.” 

“Katara. He’s shaking,” Sokka clung tighter. Still, I sunk down. 

“You cannot have life…” I mumbled. “Without giving another.”

“No, no, no,” Katara was on her feet, holding to my son with one hand, holding to my arm with the other. “Zuko. Listen to me. You are not dying on us. Your son needs you.”

“Katara he’s slipping!” Sokka’s nails pressed into my shoulders. 

She moved around. “Count of three you’re going to take him. I can waterbend, keep him up."

“There’s no point,” I whispered. “I know what’s happening. I’m bleeding. I’m bleeding out.” 

“Three,” Katara yelled. 

The arms dropped me, the water keeping my head up. 

“Zuko. You are not dying on me. I can heal you. You just have to hold on a little longer.”

I shook my head. “I’m tired Katara.”

“You are not dying!” Katara held onto my upper arm. “Do you hear me? You are not dying. You survived a snow storm in the north pole! You hunted the avatar across every continent. And now you are going to live and you are going to show that little boy what you are capable of!”

I sunk below the water. 

I wished I could’ve had a proper goodbye, maybe even gotten to name the little boy. 

Eyes pressed closed I let myself be washed away, let the icy water turn tepid, feel the pain wash away in a soft glow. 

My lungs ached for air. Soon it would end. I would be able to sleep. 

* * *

 

My eyes snapped open and the first thing I saw was the thin tarp of a low hanging tent. My body ached worse than anything I’d ever felt. With a low groan, I tried to force myself to my elbows. My stomach screamed a protest and I had to let myself back down the mat below me. 

“Guys!” a new voice yelled out. “Guys he’s awake!”

Turning over I turned my gaze to the flap of the tent only to find myself blinded. 

“Zuko,” Sokka’s voice was doused with relief. “Finally.”

“What’s going… where…?” I  could feel my throat burning. 

“Hold still,” Sokka put a hand on my arm. “You’ve been out for a few hours. Katara healed you. No more bleeding.”

I grunted a noncommittal noise. There was no way. This was a dream. Right?

My throbbing body disagreed. 

Still… I had to know. “Where is he?”

“Who?” the other girl’s voice was closer now. 

“My son,” I forced myself up this time, ignoring every protesting nerve in my body. “Where is my child? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine,” Katara knelt on the ground, scooting in to sit next to me. In her arms, she held a blanketed bundle. 

I didn't have to ask. The tiny creature was placed into my arms, lighter than a loaf of bread. There was no way this little, this tiny angel could have been the huge wriggling one from within me. And yet, and yet here he was. I could feel myself drawn in. Pulling him close I pressed a soft kiss into his sleeping forehead. 

“We were able to get you to a town once I healed the worst of it,” Katara sat back, pushing her brother and the other girl out of the tent. 

I nodded, unable to move my eyes from the scrunched face. 

“We found you the right herbs, and the afterbirth passed just fine.” Katara took a deep breath. “You’re going to be fine Zuko, both of you are.”

“Thank you,” I whispered. 

Everything else could wait. The world could take its own sweet time. My pain could take a back seat. Because there, in that singular moment, nothing mattered but him. It wasn’t her destiny, not the life the spirit woman had traded to keep the baby alive. The child in my arms was singly mine. 

Tiny golden eyes blinked once, pressed to slits by the toothless smile. 

“Hello,” I brushed a finger across his cheek. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading this! I really hope I will be able to post more for this fandom in the future. Thank you all so so so much. I really can't tell you guys how much your feedback means to me :)


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